Medford is where Doug was born and raised, and where I spent a year living and working before going back to school. It's also where some of my best--and most creative--friends live: Emma, Sandy, and Ivy Klingbeil.
One of my jobs while living in Medford was working at The Flower Gallery with Emma and Ivy's uncle (Sandy's brother-in-law), Steve. It would be Steve and I in the store from 8am until 4pm daily: rain, snow, sleet, or hail. And, we had a blast--I don't think I have laughed so hard for so long with another person. I would change out the shop's window displays and he would deliver flower orders. He taught me everything I needed to know about flower arranging. People from town would stop in to chat. Working with Steve was engaging and challenging, but always fun!
Steve passed away one year ago--almost to this date--in August of 2008. Steve and I had this running joke about this ballerina snow globe that he always placed out in the shop during the holidays, but it would never sell. Steve always wondered if she ever got too dizzy, as she was spinning all the time. After I moved away from Medford, he sent it to me for Christmas. Then I sent it back to him on his birthday, and he sent it to me on my birthday, and so-forth-and-so-on . . . When he passed away, it was found in his shop. So, Sandy sent it to me.
I took the snow globe with me to Medford, last week. I decorated it with some fabric embellishments and wrote a note to Steve with gold paint pen on the glass. I placed it on his tombstone. There it sits, and there it stays.
Rest in peace, friend.
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